Peter Raynbird reviews league matches played on 23/01/16

Basingstoke League
Divsiion One

Sherborne St John moves back into second spot in the table after beating Hampshire Irons 3-2 in a close contest at the War Memorial Park. Irons were without their regular keeper Jack Rickard and his stand in Gavin Curry was beaten in the second minute. A ball over the top from Tobi Judd found Jack Murphy, Curry did well to save his first effort, but failed to keep out the follow up from the Sherborne striker. Charlie Henry had a great chance to level, but failed in a one on one with keeper Darren Gary and they were to pay for this miss when Sherborne doubled their lead before the break. A long throw from Judd was not cleared well and it fell to Jack Stallard and his volley was too good for Curry. Ben Woods converted a penalty after Henry was floored in the box to reduce the arrears, but in the 70th came the third for the visitors, Judd their scorer. Irons were chasing the game after this and did manage to come back in the 80th. Mitchell Medford with the cross and the firm header from James Arnold flew past Gary. . Irons kept up the pressure but lacked quality to equalize.

The pitches at Brighton Hill were rested and their scheduled matches were transferred to Stratton Park. I made a rare visit there, expecting to see a close game between Basingstoke Athletic and Overton United A, only to see Athletic beaten 8-1. In fact it was quite a good game to watch with Athletic having quite a lot of the ball without the finishing the opposition had. Overton opened the scoring after 14 minutes when a tame shot by Ryan Watts was fumbled into the net by keeper James Lounton. .In the 31st after a good build up it became 2-0 when Matt Bonner finished off the move. A penalty was awarded in the 34th and put away by Chris Morris for a 3-0 interval lead. In the 53rd a breakaway down the left and Bonner scored his second. 17 years old Louis McCann, was very impressive down the left flank for Overton and added another to make it 6-0 which brought a change of goalie for Athletic. Lounton remained on the field, playing up front and his deflected shot was their lone goal in the 78th minute. His replacement Paul Taylor however was beaten by further goals from Watts and Morris.

Division Two

Basingstoke Athletic Reserves were playing their away game on the next pitch at Stratton Park and had a much better result than their first team, beating AFC Berg 3-0. Athletic held a 1-0 lead at half time. Adrian Fitzsimmons the scorer and they almost scored again in the 40th when a cross from Fitzsimmons hit the top of the bar. They increased their lead in the 70th through George Byrne and their third came late in the game, a header by Tim Webb.

Winklebury Wizards had enough chances to have won this game easily, only to travel back from Aldermaston with a 2-1 defeat and so remains bottom of the table on goal difference. They took the lead after eleven minutes following a horrendous error in the Aldermaston defence. Brad Nicholson played a poor back pass, Craig Broughton in trying to clear handed Scott Winterbourne his opportunity to slam into the net. Dean Scott hit the post for Wizards and Dan Costen had a great chance one on one with the keeper, but it only remained a1-0 lead and then in the 55th minute Aldermaston drew level. It was a cross from Barfoot and Kevin Flain volleyed into the net. Wizards had numerous chances to regain the lead. Adam Bartlett, Alex Stevens and Greg Adams were the main culprits. As usually happens when a team is on top, back comes the opposition to go in front. They were awarded a free kick and Barfoot scored direct. Aldermaston could have made it 3-1 in the 90th minute when awarded a penalty, but Flain fired it over the bar.